Doors allow individuals to selectively enter and exit a vehicle and cooperatively provide a selectively closed passenger compartment which protects the vehicle occupants as the vehicle is driven. One type of door which has become relatively popular, especially when deployed upon a "van type" vehicle, is a sliding door. Particularly, the sliding door is usually relatively large and selectively and movably extends across the entire passenger compartment as well as the storage compartment which resides behind the driver's seat. This relatively large sliding door therefore, when selectively moved to an open position, allows the entire passenger compartment and storage area to be accessed, thereby allowing for relatively easy entry into the entire passenger compartment and storage area and allowing groceries and other packages and containers to be easily placed within the vehicle. Moreover, some vehicles have multiple sliding doors, thereby allowing access into the vehicle from a number of directions or "sides". While these sliding doors allow for relatively easy entry into the van or vehicle, they suffer from some drawbacks.
Perhaps one of the greatest drawbacks which is associated with these deployed sliding doors is that the doors, while capable of being selectively opened, do not adequately "lock" or remain open, especially if the vehicle is parked or is resident upon a hill or other inclined road. Thus, each of the relatively large and open doors often and unexpectedly close, thereby annoying those individuals or pets who are resident within the doors' path of closure.
While attempts have been made to selectively and securely "lock" the doors in the open position, these attempts have various drawbacks and are not particularly desirable. That is, these prior attempts include relatively costly and complicated latching mechanisms which are prone to failure and/or malfunction and which increase the amount of force which is required to close the opened door. This last drawback is particularly troublesome to children, the elderly, and other individuals of slight stature.
There is therefore a need for a vehicle door assembly which may be used in combination with a sliding vehicle door, which is relatively low in cost, which has relatively "uncomplicated" and relatively "simple" components, and which substantially ensures that the selectively opened sliding door is held in the open position without substantially increasing the amount of force needed to close the opened door.